School construction halted to seek G-rated site
A furor over plans to build a school for disturbed students in an adult business area persuades school officials to look elsewhere.
By MELANIE AVE
Published December 21, 2004
TAMPA - Hillsborough school officials have decided that pornography and public schools are not such a good mix after all.
That's why they halted construction Monday on a new school being built in a neighborhood filled with strip clubs, peep shows and X-rated video stores.
The about-face came amid mounting criticism of the school district's decision to build the Carver Exceptional School across the street from businesses such as Lipstixx Nude Cabaret, Adult World and an XTC Adult Supercenter.
The school, which was to open in August, will serve 150 emotionally disturbed middle and high school students.
City and county officials said Monday they will help educators find a more appropriate location for Carver than the site off Lois and Hillsborough avenues, where ground was broken last week.
"We need to give this a try," said Mary Ellen Elia, the school district's chief facilities officer. She called the location "a last resort."
"We've had concerns over it," she said.
School officials must relocate Carver, now operating on Laurel Street, because the Department of Transportation has purchased that site for its widening of Interstate 275. They said they chose a location in Drew Park, much of which is zoned for adult use, because they couldn't find any other available property in the school's attendance zone.
The decision floored Hillsborough Commissioner Kathy Castor, whose district includes the site. She told school officials last week the location violates county restrictions on adult businesses.
"Hillsborough County has established a clear public policy that prohibits adult uses near schools," Castor wrote in a letter to school superintendent Earl Lennard. "The county's prohibition and common sense dictate that you revisit this decision."
Castor said Monday she is confident a joint effort by the city, county and school district will find a more appropriate location for the school. She has asked the county's real estate department to help, and enlisted the support of City Council member Mary Alvarez.
"We've got lots of folks at work right now," said Castor, who said some sort of land swap may be an option. "We're going to be doing all we can over the next few days and weeks."
Alvarez said she will ask the city's real estate office to identify available property.
"It's not the best of locations, especially with the type of children they're planning to put there," she said.
Elia said the school district planned to take precautions to shield Carver students from its neighbors. The school would have faced away from the adult businesses across the street, and there would have been a wall around its perimeter. Students would have arrived only by bus and a security officer would have been on site full-time.
School Board member Carol Kurdell, who also raised concerns about the location, said that wasn't enough.
"It's just too close to those businesses," she said.